


there are no tricks in plain and simple faith

by savanting



Series: Beware the Ides of January [2]
Category: Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Origin Story, Pre-Canon, References to Shakespeare, Royals, Short One Shot, Sibling Rivalry, Siblings, Twins, villain origin story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:47:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27018289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savanting/pseuds/savanting
Summary: January learns her education will continue beyond her kingdom's borders. (Part 2/9)
Relationships: January (Secret Society of Second-Born Royals) & Original Male Character
Series: Beware the Ides of January [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1970344
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	there are no tricks in plain and simple faith

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own any Disney properties. This is just the second part of my delving into January's psyche when she was younger (as I imagine, anyway). I know I've taken liberties, but I hope it's an enjoyable read nonetheless.
> 
> The title comes from lines in the play "Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare.

January’s mother said it was for the best.

January’s father said she would do so well and go so far.

January’s brother stayed silent, as if he had nothing to do with the decision, as if he were blameless.

The day after her tenth birthday, January learned she was to attend boarding school and learn “how to be a proper lady” alongside other royals from around the continent and beyond. No longer would she be under the tutelage of scholars like Manox; those lessons instead would be focused solely on August’s education going forward.

The boarding school itself was called Lady Maxima’s Academy for Enlightened Young Women, and it sat within the borders of Illyria, a neighboring kingdom whose king had tragically died years ago in a helicopter crash. January had traced the map of Illyria many times, always holding back her eager request to join her father and mother on one of their trips to the seemingly smaller, quainter kingdom.

Now that she had the chance to go, however, she did not feel exuberant or delighted. All she could do was resist the urge to give August a hateful look.

Why didn’t _August_ have to go to a boarding school for boys? Why was January the one to move out of her home, travel to a foreign land, and be the stranger everyone would talk about amongst themselves? Court gossip alone was something she had been trying to come to terms with, even at so young an age, and she could only imagine how groups of princesses in one place would act towards each other.

If anything, August should have been shipped away to learn how to deal with fellow royals and how to become a king who was beloved both by his kingdom and his allies abroad.

This time, January did not try to hide her emotions; she clasped her hands in her lap and breathed out softly to try and calm herself. “Must I go?” she asked, turning pleading looks to her parents. “There is still so much I can learn here, about our kingdom, about what it means to be a true paragon to the people—”

“Your future lies elsewhere, darling,” her mother said, and January felt a twist in her stomach as her mother grasped the king’s hand. “You may have grown up in this castle, but it will not be your home forever.”

January may have only been a girl of ten, but she knew the implication even then: she would marry to secure an alliance with another kingdom. Her future did not mean less or more beyond that point.

Her own mother, the beautiful queen who waved to the masses from the castle balcony every Sunday morning, had not been born in this castle. She too had had to leave behind her once-home to marry a foreign prince who later became the king. She had been the foreigner, the stranger, the interloper in news tabloids – until the day the king had announced she was pregnant with twins. Once heirs were secure, her mother had seen less and less vindictive headlines from the press.

January felt her chin wobble, the threat of tears glazing in her eyes – only for her hand to be taken by August, who looked at her with a smile that might have warmed her heart at any other moment. Then his gaze turned to their parents. “I want to go to Illyria too,” he said. “I don’t want to miss out on any of the fun January’s having.”

There would be no _fun_ – boarding schools the world over were not exactly known for their exciting goings-on - but that was hardly the point. January recognized mercy – and pity – when she saw it. When she was older, she would look back on this moment and wonder why she hadn’t ripped her hand from her brother’s right then.

So much might have changed if she had. If they _had_ been separated right then. If they hadn’t gone off to Illyria together, August to a boy’s school and January to Lady Maxima’s. If right then the chasm had opened and split them from their roots.

But they were twins. It was often a superstition that twins were closer than other siblings, as if twined together by a stronger bond, but January felt the tug right then, that there was more to them and their relationship as siblings than could be explained by DNA.

August squeezed her hand, assuring her he would stand beside her wherever she would go.

Their father shook his head. “August, you have the best instructors here—”

“I won’t stand for it,” August said, stomping his foot and acting ever like the spoiled princeling. But even then January couldn’t tell if the words and motion were act or truth. “If Illyria is good enough for January, it’s even better for me.”

Though their parents would try to dissuade August in the weeks to come, there was no pushing the prince to acquiesce in some way. Whatever his faults, he had shown how stubborn royals – especially kings-to-be – could behave.

Within a month, August was accepted into Illyria’s Academy for Excellence Among Gentlemen. It may have not been what August had exactly imagined – he had frowned at the name, as if the very thought of being a gentleman appalled him in some fashion – but it was decided.

Both January and August would continue their education in Illyria.

*

The ride in the royal family’s private jet should have been quiet, but August kept asking January question after question.

“Do you think they’ll be able to understand us in Illyria?”

“What type of foods do you think they have?”

“Do you think they play video games there?”

January finally snapped shut her book – _A Little Princess_ by Frances Hodgson Burnett – and turned her eyes upon her annoying brother. “How about you just wait and find out?”

August pouted and sat back in his seat. “I’m nervous,” he admitted, his gaze looking out the nearby airplane window.

January sighed softly. That was one thing she didn’t like about being the younger child: often she felt like it was so cosmically backward that _she_ took care of her brother more than _he_ , the older sibling, took care of her. But she did have to admit he had come through by insisting that he go to Illyria alongside her.

“They won’t bite,” she said. “They’re people, just like us, and royals to boot. We can’t be all that different.”

August let out a whoosh of a breath. “What if they don’t like me?”

And there it was, August’s weakest point: he loved attention by any means, but he also wanted to be cherished and admired. Even then, January could tell that was a bad mixture to have in a future king.

January might have scoffed if her brother didn’t look so worried, chewing on his bottom lip. “Everyone loves you,” she said. “You’ll be everyone’s best friend in no time.”

The glimmer of a smile touched August’s face. “You think so?” he asked, glancing at her to see if there was any hint of teasing in her look.

January grinned in spite of herself. At times like these, she was reminded how her brother wasn’t a bad person – even though he could be difficult and mercurial in his moods. “If they ask _me_ , though, I’ll tell them all about your bad habits.”

August smiled and then nudged her with his sneaker. “Don’t forget that I could tell them all about _you_ too.”

She just lifted her chin in a haughty, carefree manner. “And I’ll say they’re all lies. Who do you think they would believe?”

“I’m going to be king,” August said, “and kings don’t lie.”

If only August were a better student, he would have known that his words right then were perhaps the greatest lie among royals.

But January didn’t correct him. She was still feeling happy that she was not embarking on this new journey to Illyria alone.

It was naïve of her, and it would cost her.

“Maybe you’re right,” she said to her brother as the plane continued its path to what would be their new home away from their kingdom.

January would not be feeling so warm and magnanimous towards her brother in the weeks and months to come.

In those days, January still possessed that frightful little thing known as _hope_.


End file.
